When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes--Desiderius Erasmus...
A room without books is like a body without a soul--Cicero...
You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend--Paul Sweeney...

Wednesday, May 16

A Quickie...

It's been a busy reading month so far, but I haven't had time nor the inclination to write reviews for everything. So I thought I'd post snippets about what I liked/disliked about each one...

Shana Abe's The Smoke Thief completely blew me away. It's been out for a while and to be honest I wasn't all that interested, I picked it up on a whim and it's now a keeper. I had to fight to keep from doing an immediate reread.

I chose not to review this one because I thought it would turn into a gush fest and that wouldn't do the book justice.

I'm heading to the library today in the hope they have The Dream Thief available.

I'm a Susan Squires fan and her Companion series is one of my favorites, though I didn't particularly like The Burning, I did like her new one One With The Night. The heroine is strong and smart, the hero is a bit of a "poor put upon me" vampire, but not enough to put me off the story, and considering his backstory it may be understandable. There's an interesting twist to the Loch Ness Monster(s) in this one that I originally thought was over the top, but the more I think about it the more I like it.

I like that Ms. Squires leaves the HEA on the ambiguous side, it's a series about vampires--forever is a really long time :)

Castle of the Wolf is my first Sandra Schwab book. It's a Gothic--I love Gothics.

I liked the hero and heroine, her brother's pathetic, her SIL's a bitch, his parents are sweet, the servants are loyal, the heroine has an interesting rat killing friend, and his brother's the villain. The gargoyles add a cool twist to the story. The setting is interesting--Germany's Black Forest.

What's not to like? :D

Hmmm, I've been at a loss for words (I know--a loss for words--right :D) regarding Loretta Chase's Not Quite A Lady and it finally hit me, I'm not a huge fan of Loretta Chase's voice, it's why I'm sometimes hit or miss with her stories, because if the story doesn't completely grab me I'm just reading, not really loving it but not hating it either. I also did the comparison thing--Mr. Impossible is one of my favorite books, this one didn't compare for me. Darius isn't half as entertaining as Rupert and Charlotte just seemed immature, at one point near the end she says something about not growing past 16 and that's exactly how I felt as I was reading the book. Good because she's a good writer but it didn't completely work for me.

I'm not a huge "contemporary" reader, because I often find them trying too hard--too funny, too melodramatic. I'm picky about romantic comedies and I've reached a point in my life that too much melodrama is, well, too much. Susan Wiggs' contemporaries are melodramatic, but for some reason they don't bug me. Her The Lakeside Chronicles are set in the Catskills, which is basically my backyard. I find myself nit picking the details of the area, how long it takes to go back and forth to NYC, calling the local government a "city" instead of a "town" or "village". But, not enough to completely pull me out of the story. I liked the hero and heroine (Rourke and Jenny). The Winter Lodge is a nice story,add a little mystery, and truths uncovered--it worked.

Thanks to Wendy I've become a Cheryl St. John fan, slowly collecting her backlist as I come across them. She's a nice storyteller, her books are simple, straightforward and always work. Joe's Wife is a sweet story about a man from the wrong side of the tracks and a widow in need.

I've got 2 or 3 more of her books on my TBR pile, she's become my go to author when I need a western fix.

You know that deja vu feeling you get when you read something that seems familiar but you can't quite figure out why? It's the feeling I got when I started Asking for Trouble by Elizabeth Young. And then it hit me, the plot was the same as that movie that came out a couple of years ago with Debra Messing--The Wedding Date, no kidding, after a quick pop in to B&N and I find out the movie's based on the book. Well, I have to say I loved the first half of the book, found myself smiling at the basic craziness of it, but then the second half disintegrated into a mass of misunderstandings. It could have been better but wasn't horrible.

it was a quickie, but a great quickie LOL :D I really liked the Winter Lodge also :D I kept expecting a villain (because the house burnt down), but I was surprised :D it was a nice story. I have the Smoke Thief, but for some reason, I didn't enjoy it as much as you seem to have. ASking for Trouble, i read that one in french and thought it was simply meh. I didn't like the misunderstandings :(

I loved The Smoke Thief! It hit my keeper shelf the minute I finished it.

Interesting about the Lock Ness Monster. I'm reading One With The Night right now and really enjoying it but I did find it a bit odd that Nessy kept being mentioned. Then I thought, hey, it's a book with vampires, what can be so odd? *g*

You're in Ontario, aren't you? Did you find Castle of the Wolf on the shelves? I couldn't find it in any Coles/Indigo-Chapters I checked out. I've been reading Barbara Michaels lately, so gothic is cranking my joy-stick at the moment. lol. I might have to give in and order this one.

Not Quite a Lady is in my tbr pile. It sounded so good too, but I've been reading mixed reviews on it. *sigh*

I loved both The Smoke Thief and Joe's Wife too. I have The Dream Thief but just haven't gotten around to it yet. And I do want to read Castle of the Wolf - but tis not out here anywhere in Ontario - unless it's at Walmart.

I just read The Smoke Thief a couple of weeks ago and loved, loved, loved it! And I agree with you about Chase--I loved Mr Impossible, too, but some of her other books? Not so much. I think it's partly because she injects a bit more variety in her characters, plots and settings. So I find that her "voice", at least for me, actually seems different from book to book.

I loved checking out what you're reading! Glad to know you're one of the western fans. Insider info: Eight western writers, including moi, have teamed up to create a website just for western romances. It will be called Petticoats & Pistols, with a comprehensive book list, upcoming releases and blogs by the host writers as well as guest bloggers. The regulars will include Lorraine Heath and Geralyn Dawson, so hold on to your Stetsons! There will be a promotion when the site is launched this summer.